Guild Wars 2 Review
Guild Wars 2 is a paradise for explorers and thrill-seekers alike, and the best online role-playing game in years.
The Good
- Fluid movement and combat are consistently entertaining
- Rethinks genre tropes in ways that keep you exploring
- Exciting player-versus-player battlefields
- Flexible skill system lets you adjust your play style
- Beautiful visuals with a painterly flair.
The Bad
- Does a mediocre job of explaining important concepts
- Some lingering technical issues and other annoyances.
The world of Tyria, as imagined in the massively multiplayer Guild Wars 2, is an endlessly intriguing place, stuffed with mystery and adventure, gifting you with gorgeous sights and personal stories that etch themselves into your memory. These are the kinds of stories you tell for months to come--and they arise from your own spontaneous experiences. There's the one about how you and your guildmates emerged from chilly waters into an ominous thunderstorm, captured a tower from the enemy, and escaped from a roaring crowd of necromancers and rangers before they could deliver you to the devil. Then there's the one where a giant lightning-breathing dragon landed in a dark-misted field, and you joined a legion of soldiers to cleanse the land of its blight. Guild Wars 2 strips away the traditional game of "follow the waypoint," allowing you to feel like part of a vast living landscape rather than the tool of a thousand and one taskmasters.
How does Guild Wars 2 make Tyria so inviting and inventive? It starts with the loss of the traditional quest log. That isn't to say that Guild Wars 2 doesn't provide you with side quests and other activities outside your main storyline--it's that they are structured in a way that makes them organic to the world around you. In a sense, your map serves as a journal. Here, you see points of interest to discover; waypoints that you can unlock and that serve as nodes for quickly traveling from one area to the other; and non-player characters designated with hearts that have optional activities for you to do.
Your map is more than a sketch of the surrounding lands: it's a personal guide to your adventure, beckoning you to uncover unexplored territory. It isn't just the marked activities that have you peeking into every nook, however, but the surprises lurking on mountaintops and within hidden caves. Suddenly, you're stumbling upon a secretive entrance or emerging from a deep lake to discover a hidden oasis. Further inspection reveals hidden treasure, tricky labyrinths, and giant ogres needing a smackdown.
As for the more structured activities, those NPCs labeled with hearts are more than just quest givers--they're vendors, too. By fulfilling these characters' requests, you get access to whatever gear they sell, which you buy not with gold, but with a currency called karma, earned by participating in world events (more on those soon) and by just doing things. This system of hearts is more or less like the traditional "take quest, earn reward" structure of most role-playing games, but the reward is access to a merchant's entire inventory, rather than a piece of equipment you may not want or need. You don't have to speak to that character to take on the task--you just get prompted when you come near, and the prompt disappears if you leave the area before completing the goal. (Of course, it then reappears when you again enter the area.)
These might seem like small adjustments to a familiar formula, but Guild Wars 2 rethinks old standards in new ways so that you can go have an adventure of your own, rather than be guided through one someone else created for you. For instance, like in other massively multiplayer online games, you can visit low-level areas as a high-level character--perhaps the starting regions of other races--for a change of scenery. But in other games, there's no real reason to be there: the quests don't provide pertinent rewards, and local wildlife goes down in a single hit. In Guild Wars 2, your level scales downward in such places so that your foes are a greater threat. Furthermore, while your experience rewards aren't notable in lower-level regions, the loot you earn is scaled to match your level, as opposed to the region's. And by rethinking a single trope, developer ArenaNet makes each glade, swamp, and valley a tantalizing destination for every player.
Those "heart" missions generally have you performing any number of tasks: repairing fences, killing enemies, delivering ale to thirsty inn patrons, and more. Not every task is all that engaging; some activities are just busywork (collecting tools), while others involve elements (such as stealth) that don't feel natural given Guild Wars 2's basic mechanics. But you're always free to move on to something more interesting, perhaps to discover another grand vista. Vista points are scattered about Tyria and seen as glowing bits of parchment, usually hovering in spots just out of reach.
Getting to those vistas can be a joy or a chore (usually the former), depending on the quality of the jumping puzzles that lead to them. Leaping about in Guild Wars 2 isn't a slog--the game has perhaps the most fluid movement in the genre--but the camera has a tendency to get caught up on walls and ceilings. When you're afforded the opportunity to see all around you, scaling icy cliffs and rickety planks is a pleasure. In cramped environments, the camera might freak out, and you can't see well enough to make an educated leap. But even when you wrestle with the camera, the effort is worthwhile: you activate the vista, and the camera spins about, showing off the spectacular panorama surrounding you. A gentle tune accompanies the moment, and you revel in the pastoral uplift it creates.
While you do get experience for unlocking these vistas, the greater reward is getting the chance to admire Tyria without hindrance. Guild Wars 2 is a beautiful game that makes an impression in big ways and small. In Lion's Arch, a bridge takes the form of a giant sloop now retired from its days sailing the seas. In Blazeridge Steppes, a dragon's electric attacks have burned the foliage to a crisp; swirling claw marks and a shimmering veil of darkness tell tales of the devastation that occurred there. From snowy mountains to humid swamps, Tyria encompasses a diverse number of climates and landscapes, yet it still looks remarkably cohesive.
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
While the downed state was briefly glanced in the review, why was there no mention at all to the combo mechanics? It defines the game's combat...
One thing for sure.Game rocks.You can be a really ,really hc fan of WoW.I used to be one.Tried Swtor which is a complete disaster.
I love rpgs.
They are only games which give us a bit of feeling that world is truly open.But here.
I`m simply amazed.Everything is uber-fluid.
Maybe crafting is a bit of pain,but U can get used to it.
I don`t need to group basicly and still enjoy an awesome MMO experience.
9.0 as a score is not enough.10 for me.
Sorry Blizz.I understand that people still love the barrens chat....but please..
GW2-game is beautiful and totally addictive,
And,sorry Kevin but "Does a mediocre job of explaining important concepts" ????Please....
Bakh77 I miss barrens chat >:
alioli Bakh77
Me as well.That was probably the thing that kept us goin in WoW.
Unfortunately i can`t see how can they drag me back there.WoW ain`t worth the money no more.
No more Molten Core excitement for me.That will not come back.Ever.So comparing to old days GW2 is giving me at least a % of fun I used to have exploring Barrens.For free.
Ok, ubernoob question time: I'm a single player RPG guy; I started playing computer RPGs (as opposed to pen and paper RPGs) about 5 years prior to the release of Baldur's Gate. I haven't played GW1 but I have to say that all I read about GW2 makes me want to try it. In your honest opinion, should a single player RPG guy like me try GW2 ? (I liked Mass Effect 1-2/Dragon Age I/Deus Ex; I meh-ed Dragon Age 2/Mass Effect 3).
Additionnal info: I also liked Skyrim.
atn98 for dungeons u need party which is easy to do for everyting else.. u can do solo... :)
but most of the time there will be some1 or many out there doing the same thing..
and its very easy to get distracted from what you set out to do and what u end up doing.. its fun :P
atn98 It depends on WHY you like solo RPG. If you play them primarily for the story, I'd say you might be disappointed in GW2. Yes, there is a personal story and in my opinion, it's better than most MMO, but understandably, it does not do as great a job as a single player game.
On the other hand, if you play single player RPG because you like to solo, without having to bother talking to other people, then yes, I think this game might be for you. I am like that, I prefer to solo and not be obligated to follow anyone. I am lvl 55 and I only had to search for a group for dungeons, as witchrx said. And these are optional anyways. There are big group events too, and you WILL fight with other people that happen to be there too against big monsters, but you don't even have to talk to them if you don't want to.
And you never know, maybe you will eventually want to join a guild and cooperate on things with other players. You can do both very well in this game.
atn98 Although this is a game to play with multiple persons, it in fact does a good job as a singleplayer game, simply look at the other people as npcs and there you go. The things you can do solo are amazing, vistas, points of interest, and the personal story, but you can play the dynamic events but think as the people being npcs that care about you and revive you if you fall.
atn98 I don't see anything that would keep you from enjoying GW2. You can blaze through the PVE game and storyline playing alone, just expect other players to be around. You don't have to chat with them or even form parties, everything is already arranged for you. You DO have to group with people for Dungeons and PVP or WvW, but those are completely optional.
As for being a Single-Player RPG fan, don't expect companion customization, or a narrative as strong as a Single-Player RPG. GW2 would be more akin to an RPG like the Elder Scrolls kind (open, with stuff to do) than a Dragon Age one. nevertheless, the story isn't BAD by any means. heck, there are MANY different stories depending on the character's race, origin, which faction they join and all of these are BRANCHING and COMPLETELY VOICED.
So yeah, seeing as there are no subs... give it a try. You'll like it.
@Kevin-V Which classes have you played except from the necro? I wondered if your class choice had any contribution in regards of appreciating the game itself?
I am still fooling around with different classes up to lvl 10 to find mine, since I plan to invest much time in this game, just don't know for sure which one yet. I usually go with tank classes, but GW2 doesn't seem to emphasive the traditional aggro gameplay mechanics I love so much.
For would be buyers for the game, please refer to this link prior to spending money, some will buy it regardless while I might save others some grief.
BiiteMe While it's nice to be informed of the bugs and such before buying a game, I really hope it doesn't discourage people from buying it. It is a great game and those bugs are either fixed, or not really a problem for most players. I've been playing since release and even when the biggest bugs were rampant, I never had a bad experience that hindered my fun. Just saying.
reBOOT2099
We each have different experiences, I never said the game was bad, I am just trying to inform people. There are those of us who feel the bugs hindered our enjoyment, and there are those like you who believe otherwise. Neither is right or wrong, the best thing I can do is give valid factual information based on my experiences. Just Saying... :)
BiiteMe Oh, don't get me wrong, your opinion was valid, I just wanted to state mine. It is fine if someone wants to wait until the big bugs are fixed. But I know what happens when people wait. They get on with other things and forget about it.
I just didn't want people who might enjoy this game pass on it just because there are a few bugs that MIGHT (but probably not) hinder their fun for a couple weeks. What's a few weeks of fun with a few bugs for a couple years of great fun afterwards? :)
This game looks great, it was definitely worth to watch. I hope I don't need a thousand dollar machine to play the game. Can anyone recommend a laptop below 1k that this game will play on?
Uchiha_Sasuke1 I don't know anything about laptops, but I have a 4 yo desktop that runs this game pretty nicely at low settings and it's still beautiful. So I'm sure you can find somethign powerful enough at a good price.
Ultimately, regardless of personal preferences, a game succeeds when it allows its player(s) to become fully immersed in its environment and mythos. When time slips by hour by hour and you don't take note of its passing while playing the game, then it has accomplished what it should - serving as an escape from the real or mundane.
As a stalwart fan of the first GW, I have to say, GW2 disappointed me in the sense that while playing it, I didn't at all feel as empowered as I did in GW. Because of the lack of its explanation of important concepts, I am left to fend for myself or rely on the charity of advice from the game's community. This does not evoke a feeling of empowerment - especially when the community are either blatantly dismissive of new players or far too busy trying to figure it out for themselves. There are many ways and many examples of how a game's mechanics can 'hold our hands' through the explanation of important concepts (such as crafting, etc) without making it feel as though we're being handheld. GW2 - imho - does a piss poor job of this because it is trying too hard to be all things to all players. In that, it doesn't allow itself to be what it is; a game that should be solely focused on immersing us in a gorgeous world with characters we care about and consequences of action and/or decision that affect the outcome.
Instead, we get a frustrating (if indeed beautiful) example of another MMO that falls short of brilliance due to an over zealous attempt to be brilliant.
TheAdderBlack Can you elaborate on what makes you feel "handheld" or which important concepts you felt weren't explained enough?
I'll agree that the community may include some players who just don't give a rat's ass about everyone else, but I doubt that you wouldn't get anyone willing to explain stuff to you in there...
I really don't listen to game review scores, I usually like watching videos on game play and people playing it like streamers on Twitch. But I bought the game because a firend was playing beta and told how great it was. I wasn't really convinced after all I bought every MMO until SWToR which I just gave up on searching a WoW replacement. But this game really blew my socks off. For a game you pay once and get all the content it was really great.
I don't know how gamespot review and give such high score for Role-Playing RPG games,these games are boring and all of these type circling around same aspect consider rename your site to RPGspot.com .
I think the score is fair, some elitists pc gamers care more about pointless things instead of having fun like the old days.
Gamespot really should reconsider posting such a glowing review for a game that has such massive security problems.
It is a free to play MMO and it shows.
Content is lacking and you will find yourself with nothing to do because you have done everything at your level and are still way too low level for the next tier of quests etc, forcing you to grind.
Makes you appreciate the things you took for granted in other, pay to play MMOs (and I am not talking about WoW).
I_ArCh0n_I More like 60$ to play.
I_ArCh0n_I why there are people saying that this game is free-to-pay. It's 60usd for the digital copy. Or you mean that there is no subscription fee ? Or maybe you haven't even played the game ?
I_ArCh0n_I Really? Odd. I've been playing for a while and I haven't felt the need to grind yet. I've been exploring, participating in events, crafting, PvPing, etc... but no grinding.
I_ArCh0n_I It's not really free to play because you gotta pay the 50-60 bucks to buy the game first. F2p refers to those games that you can download and play for free. It is free of subscriptions though!
I_ArCh0n_I You are doing it wrong. You are supposed to go check out other areas at or below your level, do some wvw or crafting, etc. Not just expect to level 15 to 25 cause the zone is 15 to 25.
albert2006xp
I shouldn't have to do everything to level up, if I don't like crafting or pvp I shouldn't be penalised for it by running out of content.
I_ArCh0n_I That's like saying you're hungry after eating part of meal and leaving the rest just cos you don't like it. Its stupid. If you're not gonna do the majority of the stuff then of course you're gonna run out of bloody content.
I_ArCh0n_I albert2006xp
are you serious? then why do you play this game? yeah sure i am not crafting either though i do occational pvp but either way you can always go to another zone, lets say you just finished 20-30 zone and you've finished it at level of 28 then you can just go to 25-35 or another 20-30 instead of going to 30-40 zone. there are plenty of things to do -.- grinding mobs in this game isn't the best way to level up unlike mmos like Aion or WoW.
escapethyfate I_ArCh0n_I
Every person likes different parts of a MMO and devs are supposed to make gameplay that caters to all player types. Players play games to have fun, and not every finds the same activities fun which is why gameplay for all types of activities needs to be complete so that players never feel like they are grinding. And once you use the word grinding that means you aren't having the kind of fun you want and voids the reason why you bought the game.
One of the big criticisms of MMOs of the past was that you eventually ran out of quests but still were not high enough to level and had to grind. Even Wow faced this problem however WoW learned from its mistakes and every expansion pack allowed you to level your character to max level within the expansion pack zones by questing alone. And many people enjoyed this and felt it was an improvement.
GW2 inability to understand the lessons of the past is a strike against them, especially since with only a few levels there is no reason why they couldn't have made enough quests to allow someone to reach max level solely by questing.
CommodoreRaslin escapethyfate I_ArCh0n_I i have yet to see GRINDING in guild wars 2, the only people feeling like they are grinding are the ones not paying attention to any thing at all, there are plenty of zones and quest for every level catagory, make use of the asura gates and visit other start areas and visit there zones ect ect, i have a lvl 80 war , 44 ranger, 30 engineer and no grinding was involved, my lvl 80 warrior isint even at 140 hours of gameplay yet and has been 80 for a while.
I_ArCh0n_I Wow, did this happen to you? Because throughout the game I was always irritated how I was overlevelled in pretty much every storyline quest or PvE areas.
GW2 is the best MMO of all time!!!!!
everybody is a reviewer now huh? lol...
9 out of 10...and that is what publicity in gamespot gets you...
and yes i've played guild wars 1 since 2005 and i've pre-purchased GW2 and played it since the headstart
and no, it is not worthy of a 9
joaoamsoares Oh gee, I'll believe you just because you said so despite any lack of explanation!
How about some substantiation?
AbandonedFish joaoamsoares He doesn't have the game yet rofl...
Another impressive review by master reviewer Kevin VanOrd! I'm still waiting to post my review and yes I've been playing GW2 since the 3 days headstart but all my characters are still low level. I've been enjoying the game too much and wasn't focusing on levelling up, but now I have to if I want to improve my cooking... So far I give the game a solid 9.5 but that might drop to a 9 if the endgame is PvP only.
Game is a 7/10 at the most not gonna bother going into it here, you can read my review in the reviews section..
Lets make something clear: for an MMO the quality of PvE is judged by GROUP content. That is the whole point of playing an MMO, teaming up with other people in order to combine your classe's unique skills, with those of the rest of your group. I dont care if the art, storyline and animations are perfect, if it feels like single player then it is not what I paid for. Guild Wars is a game of great quality, but the fact that it is an MMO without PVE should be mentioned in the review and taken into account. So spare me the great words and perfect scores, IF you love PVP then it's the perfect game but this is NOT a complete MMO that deserve a 9.0, it is a PVP MMO with a nicely polished single player PVE storyline that feels too casual for any traditional MMO player.
jtsigos The game doesn't have a sub, so you get the full experience for the price of a standard game.
From what I have played, the group content is simply differently defined. I had a generously good romp in a dungeon as a 5-man group. Beyond that, dynamic events scale to participants and you get calls on the map chat for events and such. There is group content and on the fly player interaction and help. Heck, first game I seen where you instinctively help someone struggling with monsters playing solo.
So there is plenty of group content and use, just very unconventional.
jtsigos Have you played the game? If you haven't than what the hell are you doing here? The game has a lot of group content, because a great deal of the events and skill missions can't be done alone.
Crimson_Erskine The sad part of that is they expressed so much in how you can play the game solo during Pax and E3.
jtsigos The game doesn't even do a good job with the solo PvE experience. It's group or die. The scaled difficulty is absolute trash as it seems to be based on your actual level and not the level it kicks you down to. There's nothing in the game that can't be fixed, but ArenaNet is too high on their horse to care.
jtsigos "this is NOT a complete MMO," you are correct it is not a complete game because it just launched and has years ahead of itself to become a complete game. I do however appreciate your critical eye to catch something that is lacking within such a great game. I personally will give them time to improve upon the PvE.
game's incredible. i urge everyone to give it a shot. so much to do it's ridiculous. every area i discover, i see lots of love was poured into gw2. even if you're a huge gamer in another MMO, it'd be worth purchasing just for the PvP. but don't miss out on the PvE story lines for each race. i know i sound like a commercial, but this is comin' from a player that has over 100 hours invested. sure there's polishing to be needed, but they're on it. best MMO since rift. (yeah i said it. rift is the best holy trinity MMO.)
All ArenaNet did was remove the monotonous system of current MMO's and replace it with their own monotonous system. Play the game long enough and that's all it is. There's no variety. They could've at least mixed in actual quests with events. Sidekick system pretty much negates the benefits of leveling or acquiring better gear and makes the encounter with each mob the same. Mob resets are also a major issue especially when you do a lot of running and dodging. Run long enough (even in circles) and a mob will reset with full health just to come back for another round. I experienced this in enclosed areas with multiple mobs. The problem with this game is it tries to be too different, and in doing so, replaces some great concepts of standard MMO's with incompatible and annoyingly frustrating ones. 7.0.
Game Emblems
The Good
User Reviews
$60 for hundreds of hours of multiplayer. It's pretty, fast, interactive, combinatorial, and tactical. What a bargain!
Guild Wars 2
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- Publisher(s): NCsoft
- Developer(s): ArenaNet
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Release: Aug 28, 2012 (US) »
- ESRB: T
